I didn't usually wear black as a focal point but here I was in an all black dress with cute silver hoop earrings in hand that matched my bracelets around my wrists and my hair tied up into the neatest ballerina bun i'd ever done.
I sighed and walked over to the bathroom, getting ready to put my earrings in which was the last thing I had to do before I changed and I thought back to the dress that laid on the bed in a hanger, remembering the price too and almost choking on air itself.
All together he'd spent about fifteen thousand dollars on me, just for clothes that I looked at too long and he saw and bought it for me, and by the end of today I had no idea if I was ready to kill him or get on my knees for him.
Maybe both.
But still even now it made my hands shake because that was quite literally someones three month salary there.
My thoughts and inner turmoil was calmed when he knocked on the bathroom door and I looked to my right and over to him, almost fainting because he was also using all black and he looked absolutely delectable.
"You look nice." That was the understatement of the fucking year.
He was too busy eyeing me since I was in nothing but a robe but I was very evidently not going to be dropping it for any other activities right now.
"Thank you." He says, his eyes only now meeting mine and I smile, rolling my eyes as he leaned down and kissed my lips softly.
My eyes flutter closed, and I almost deepen the kiss as my arm snakes around the back of his neck and I let my lips part against his own, feeling his tongue tease over the seam of my bottom but I remember my lipstick and I pull back, glaring at him as if I wasn't the one who'd pulled him closer.
"Lipstick Rhys." I scold playfully, wiping his lips of my nude lipstick before I reapply some on my lips but he doesn't seem to care, he just watches me till I'm done with my makeup and my earrings are dangling from my ears.
I turn back when i'm done, "Should I put my hair down?"
"If you want to."
I roll my eyes, "You're too supportive, be rude and picky." I joke as I walk out the bathroom and he follows behind me, "Keep it up then."
"See? Horrible pernickety behavior, thank you."
He snorts, "Yeah, okay Calli."
I smile, getting my dress from the bed to put it on but before I do he turns me around and gently pushes me to sit down on the edge of the bed by my shoulders and I blink.
He looked down to my feet which were uncovered before he looked to me and I rose a brow before I wiggle my newly painted toes. "Problem?"
Then he got down to one knee and my eyes widened.
"Are you proposing to me?" I choke out, more so squeaked and he rolled his eyes. "Im not proposing and now I don't think i'll ever propose." He mumbles out and I blush a little embarrassed for assuming that was what he was doing.
"You're just being dramatic Rhysie."
He raises a brow at that before he took out a square sized bracelet box from his pocket, and when he opens it, I see an anklet.
I blinked as he put my foot onto his knee. "Woah."
He smirked as he put it around my ankle and I eyed the diamonds all around it, shining beautifully against the lighting in here.
When he was done clipping it he put my leg back down and I blinked at it as he sat down beside me on the bed and I brought my foot up, running my index finger over the most beautiful and most dainty anklet i've ever seen.
"Was it expensive?"
"How much do you consider expensive?" He asks instead and I almost want to wack him.
"Not sure, how much was this?" I ask with a raise of a brow.
He rolled his eyes at me, knowing I wouldn't stop asking until he told me. He held three fingers up and I cocked my head to the side before my eyes widened.
"Three thousand dollars?" I gasped and snorts, looking at me like I was insane. "Thirty."
I think I heard wrong, because there is no fucking way he just meant twenty thousand dollars.
"Thirty what?"
"Thirty grand."
No.
No way in hell.
I stare up at him, waiting for him to say it was a joke.
But Rhys wasn't much of a freaking jokester anyway so I realized a few seconds later that he was serious.
"That's a lot of money for something thats just hanging around my ankle Emrhys." I say, pointing to it and he shrugs, "Sounds like you're insulting me." He says instead and I rolled my eyes, "Insulting you?"
"By saying thats a lot of money."
I scoff loudly and he smirks, but I couldn't help my smile as I look at it again.
I stand up and move over to him, his hands moving over my waist to hold me as I sit on his lap, pressing a kiss to lips, then another, careful to not press hard enough to smear my lipstick.
"Thank you." I say as I cup his jaw between my hands.
"I told you not to thank me."
I blushed as I looked up to him. "But its manners."
He kisses my forehead easily since my bangs are clipped back and I smile. "It sounds like im doing you a favor, which im not, you're my girlfriend Calli, I want to give you everything."
"Everything is a lot Emrhys." I tease him, sliding my hands down and playing with his tie, rolling it up before I let it fall back down.
The ends of his lips tilt upwards at the ends, "I'll manage."
"Arrogant bastard." I say softly and he snorts, leaning closer and kissing my neck softly, a kiss so gentle that it almost feels like butterfly kisses instead.
He moves his lips lower down from my neck and to my collarbone, kissing softly across the skin there, his hands coming up and sliding the robe off my shoulder so he has better access to my skin and then his hands move to the robes front.
Slowly undoing the knot i'd made and pulling it off of me, letting it slide down my body, down my arms and drop to the floor with a soft thud.
"You're so beautiful." He murmurs against my skin, moving back a little to get a better look at my naked body, "Every inch of you drives me crazy."
My eyes flutter close at his words and the kisses he presses up my throat, and now I sit naked on him, all except for my panties and it makes me burn up even if theres nothing on me.
Theres something indescribably sexy about being in practically nothing on your boyfriend who is in a suit, something so deliciously primal that it makes my head spin and makes me not want to leave the room anymore.
His hands run up my waist, and he traces ever inch of my skin there, holding on to me near my ribs, slow circles of his thumb rubbing over there, as he kisses down beside my breasts and I almost whimper for more.
I bite my tongue to stop myself from asking him for more and instead say, "I have to get ready." Even if its said with a lot of reluctance.
He sighs, pressing one last kiss between my breast before he moves back.
"Fine."
I smile and move off of him, bending over to get my robe and im almost one hundred percent sure he got an amazing view of my ass.
Oh well. Nothing he hasn't seen before.
I take the dress from the bed and slide it up my legs first, then up my body before putting my head through the halter neck top and my arms through the open holes.
When I have it on I turn back to see the zip in the mirror, and to a certain extent I could pull it up but not fully so I look to Rhys who was still watching me and smile.
"Zip please." I ask him and he nods, standing up walking over to me.
He took the zip and began dragging the zip down my back which leaves me confused for a second but when he doesn't stop I realize he is zipping it down intentionally, his knuckles grazing my lower back and I raise a brow at him in the mirror.
I stop him, pressing my hands to his own behind my back, "Sorry I forgot you're an idiot, I meant zip me up Blackburn, not undress me."
He smirks at that, rolling his pretty eyes before zipping it up fully and I smile, running my hands down my body, setting the dress at my legs before I turn back around.
"Is it okay?"
"You look perfect."
I smile. "Only you think that."
"Everyone thinks that." He says, cupping my jaw, "Stop thinking." He reminds me again, always exactly when I need it, reminding me that I'm beautiful and that I have to stop thinking otherwise.
I nod, a small smile lingering on my face. "Are we late?"
"No, but we should go."
✶ ✶ ✶
"What're you doing Calli?" Rhys asks as I wrap his arms around my shoulders moving back till my ass it practically pressed to his crotch and I realize, maybe thats a bit of a bad idea.
"Im freezing." I mumble, my arms uncovered and now I really regret it, and when I look back at him he rolls his eyes.
He moves back and I almost cry for his warmth again, but instead of leaving me cold he takes his suit jacket off before putting it over my shoulders and I sigh.
"You could've just asked for it."
I pull it closer to me and smile, tilting my head back and I pucker my lips, tapping my index finger on my lips and he kisses me softly, "You're the sweetest."
"Sweet isn't a word we'd use for him." Adair says and I almost jump back from being startled, looking back just to see Max and Adair walk over together, hand in hand.
Max in a beautiful silver with glitter dress and she smiles at me as I smile shyly back at her, "I knew you two were dating."
"It wasn't exactly rocket science." Rhys responds dryly and I was just about to elbow him but he just catches my elbow and pushes it down, moving his hand into mine and I roll my eyes.
"He's very rude I know, anyway, how're you?" I ask Max and she giggles before she groans, "So hungry actually, I'm literally starving."
"Me too, I think I last ate breakfast and it was some overfilled croissant."
"I love croissants!" She says and I gasp, "Really? I love them too!"
"So weird." Adair and Rhys mumbled in unison and I almost giggled at how alike they were, and just how alike Max and I were.
We'd definitely get along.
The elevator doors opened and we walked in, looking around for sometime till it came to a stop and Max poked my side, "You look pretty by the way."
I grinned, "You do too." I say before we walk out side by side and when we get closer to where his siblings are already seated his grip on my hand seems to loosen, but I keep my grip firm in his, turning to look to him before saying, "I like holding your hand."
His eyes soften at that but he doesn't say anything, just holds my hand tighter again till Luxe runs over to me, even in heels and I almost end up tumbling back when her body hits mine in a bear hug, "I missed you!"
I laugh, looking to Rhys and he rolls his eyes with a small smile before he let's go of my hand to go sit and I stand there hugging Luxe.
"I saw you yesterday." I say with a grin that could possibly not be wiped off for the entire night and she shrugs, "Today went by slow."
"True." I say with a nod and she smile as we walk to the table, I hug all the girls and Bolt grins at me widely causing me to smile.
"Hello Bolt." I say with a teasing tone which he returns with his own, "Hey Dylan."
Hugo is the only one who doesn't speak to me, he just gives me a look before he looks to Rhys beside me and looks away. At this point he should just come out and say he hates my guts for some reason.
I just choose to ignore it and him for the night and it works out fine. I also notice throughout the night that Hugo and Bolt are quite close which is unsurprising now that I think of it it, since Bolt gets along with everyone.
Everyone around the table orders their food and drinks and as we wait we sit and talk, but half the time I eye the tower from the inside looking out.
I lean closer to Rhys and point out the window, "Its so pretty, you can see like all the tiniest buildings from here, and the structure of the tower." And you can, you can see the way the beams are structured from inside here.
"We can go for a walk further away so you can see the whole thing."
I look to him with a smile, "Really, like after this?"
He nods and I grin, "Okay."
Sometime throughout the time we started eating Adair and Rhys went somewhere and I assume it had to do with the ring, since Rhys had very evidently went to some jewelry store earlier, my anklet proof of that, he probably got the ring for his brother too.
Then they came back and Adair and Max left looking very confused, and Luxe, Lila, Frankie, Florence and I were officially on the edge of our seats.
But Luxe was practically squeezing my hand to death as we waited for them to come back and I desperately needed to shake it.
"You okay there kid?" I ask her as I slide my hand out hers, shaking my hand and hoping there was no potential nerve damage.
"Im so nervous, what if she says no?"
"We'd all be more surprised if she said no than if she says yes." Bolt says from over the table and we all nod in agreement, "It would be such a waste of ten years." Florence says and Frankie snorts. "A normal relationship shouldn't last ten years, there should be an expiration date or something."
I choke on my wine at Frankies words and everyone ends up laughing, all except for Rhys who smirks, wiping my chin of the wine with a napkin.
I cant help but giggle too as I look to him.
"Its always the wine."
Thats our little inside joke and of course it makes him chuckle which makes me smile.
But we're all knocked out of out little speculation fest when they come back and we fall silent, staring at Max.
Till she notices and lifts her hand up with a pretty shy smile and blush of her cheeks and all of us girls start squealing as she walks over to us with a breathtaking engagement ring on her finger.
"Its so pretty!" Lila squeals and I nod in agreement. "Congratulations Max."
"Thank you."
I look to Adair who sits back in his seat after his brothers are done joking around about being a married man but of course he doesn't seem to care and most definitely seems to be much less tense now that she was his fiancé.
I smile over at him, "Congratulations to you too."
A rare smile graces his lips too, "Thank you Dylan."
✶ ✶ ✶
"That was so adorable." I say with a sigh, swinging our hands back and forth as we walk further away from the Eiffel tower to get a perfect view of the whole thing.
"What was?"
I look to him, pulling my brows together, "The proposal?"
He clears his throat before he shrugs, "Adair was pissed though, Jack didn't show up, couldn't even do that little for his kid."
My eyes widened at the revelation.
I knew there was something missing but there father was rarely ever around so I hadn't thought much of it.
"Oh shit yes, why'd he not come?"
"Not sure, he didn't even have the decency to make an excuse up."
I frown, "Thats really shitty of him."
"Yeah." He nods, "It is."
"But Adair has Max now, and im pretty sure she's pregnant so thats fun." I say with a grin and wiggle of my brows and he looks to me with a look of confusion, "How do you know that?"
"She didn't drink any wine."
"Or maybe she didn't want wine?" He says as if that is even a possibility.
I scoff, "Everyone wants wine Emrhys, believe me."
He smirks, pulling me closer to him by my hand before kissing my lips softly and I giggle heartily, pulling away before looking to the Eiffel Tower from here as I take his arm and place it over my shoulder.
"It's beautiful."
He hums, "It is."
I hum, holding his hand, twirling under it and he lets me before I speak, "You know, I was reading that comic again early and was doing a lot of thinking and I came to the conclusion that you're the nerdiest of nerds."
He raises a brow but he doesn't look offended, yet, "A nerd?"
I nod, "Yeah, you read books for fun, you like math, you're insanely smart and good at chess, plus you can play the piano which is like the nerd default."
He grimaces, "Yeah, yeah I'm probably under that category."
"The nerd category?" I ask cheekily and he hums, "Yeah, that."
"Why aren't you saying it? Did I bruise your ego?"
He snorts, "You called me smart, I'm not offended."
"You know who's smart?" I ask him as I get closer and he raises a brow, "Who?"
"Nerds." I sing as I scrunch my nose and he copies me, pulling me closer and pinching my waist which makes me erupt in a loud laughter, the feeling making me so damn ticklish.
I grab his hands in my own and push it to his chest, breathing hard with a smile, "You're an idiot."
He smirks, leaning down and kissing me, "I thought I was smart?" He says, his lips inches from mine and I hum, a thoughtful sound, "You're both, idiotic, nerdy and also so damn hot."
He hums, his hands running over my hips, rubbing up and down. "Did I tell you how beautiful you look already?"
"Twice, but you can tell me again, I love hearing it." I tease, and he smirks, kissing my neck softly, "I just want to get you naked and tell you how beautiful you are for the rest of the night."
"Oh well that escalated quickly." I mumble out, acting like it hadn't made my temperature shoot up and he snorts, kissing over my jaw.
"Well, the Eiffel Tower was very anticlimactic but seriously it is pretty, I love it." I say, turning back to it and he shakes his head with a small smile, "Yeah, you want ice cream before we go?"
I grin, turning to kiss him. "Yep yep."
✶ ✶ ✶
It was early hours of the morning when we got back to the hotel after eating ice cream on one of the benches that looked out to the Eiffel tower and honestly, today was the best time of my life.
I've never smile, laughed or been happier than I had today.
And it was all because of him.
As soon as we got to the hotel i'd asked him to unzip the dress and I got myself out of it, putting on a ribbed plain white t-shirt and shorts as I washed my face of the makeup and took my hair out the bun it was in, running my fingers through it before sighing and walking out the bathroom.
"Marriage is so weird." I say when I'm done and I crawl into the bed, laying my head on his shoulder and he looks back to me, "What?"
"Like, its weird, don't you think? Max and Adair are in love so they're getting married and marriage is just law's involvement in your love and its like now they have to be with one another or else pay a shitload to not be together again."
He nods slowly, "I think you just thought about this too much." He says and I shrug with a smile, laying my cheek on his back, running my finger tips over his arm, wondering what it would be like to be married.
Would the love still be the same? Would it be more? Would it feel different? Difficult? Why do people get married anyway? Does adding the law to love make it more solid? Why can't it be solidified between you and the person you love?
So weird.
I had so many thoughts so suddenly and as if he could sense it he turns around and I look up to him.
"Have you ever been in love?" I blurt out and he blinks, eyeing my face for a few seconds, like he'd trying to understand why i'd asked him that.
"Past tense?"
I nod, threading our fingers together and he shakes his head, "In the past no, and you?"
I shake my head, "Not that I remember, and I guess if it wasn't memorable it probably wasn't really love."
He hums in agreement, wrapping a piece of my hair around his finger, watching as he let it uncoil and slide down his finger and back over my shoulder.
He looks to me and I look to him.
But he's eyeing me in someway that makes my skin warm, like he's trying to figure something out.
I don't let him.
I lean closer and my hands thread into his hair before our lips meet and he kisses me back, it starts slow, almost like a good night kiss, like it would end soon but our kisses don't stop.
It grows faster and his hands end up in my hair, flutters erupt in my stomach when his tongue slides over my bottom lip and unlike in the morning, now it makes its way into my mouth, tasting me slowly and I move back for only a second to slip my hands beneath my shirt before pulling it off and throwing it to the floor before we're kissing all over again.
"I don't ever want to lose you." I murmur into his mouth not knowing where this is coming from but I needed him to know, I wanted him till forever comes to an end, and maybe after, maybe love will out do forever.
Love? Do I love him?
I move back, keeping my hands at his jaw, kissing his lips softer, and I know its a possibility that I do. The time we spent together here in Paris made me realize that I want to be with him for a long time, that I never wanted it to end.
I want him.
And I think I was in love with him.
"I never want to let you go." He says to me and it only makes my stomach dip like I'm on a freaking rollercoaster but no, this is all Rhys's doing.
"I don't plan on ever leaving you." I tell him, a weight sinking into my chest at that, but its not a heavy weight because I don't believe it, its heavy because I do believe it.
I genuinely believe i'd never want to leave him, that maybe I believe it more than i'd believe someone telling me the sky was blue and the grass was green.
"Really?"
I nod shortly. "Why would you think I'd leave you?" I ask him breathily, moving over him and sitting myself down on his lap.
He looks at me for a second, and I almost feel confused at how his looking at me, but the feeling is gone when he starts rubbing his hands up my hips, just his simple touch making me forget about everything else in the world.
This has to be love. It's insane. Just like love.
"At a point you were so withdrawn."
I was.
But thats because I was confused if he really liked me or if it was just purely a sexual attraction, but I know now that its not just sexual.
We are insanely attracted to one another but we also just want to be around one another, baking, reading, hell we even have nap dates. We want and love every form of intimacy with one another, whether its sexual or just simple company even if the other is busy.
And thats love.
"I was." I mumbled, "It was just hard for me."
"I know but im not... them." He says and I nod. I know he isn't my exes, he's nothing like them.
"At a point I used to feel like we lived in freaking Miami, the women are gorgeous, and what was I?" I speak rhetorically.
"Don't say they're not as beautiful, I know they are and I know its stupid but I didn't understand or well know, what exactly was I to them, its confusing, I think I cared too much after getting cheated on so frequently, as if all I was insecure, but it's different now." I assure him, not really sure if I believe it but I'm willing to try to.
He pushes my hair behind my ears, getting a better look at me as if he knows I still am unsure, "They're never gonna be you, I get that you think other women are beautiful but no other women will ever be you, you're the woman I want."
My eyes threatened to tear but I blink it away.
"You're my person Calli."
I smiled, leaning closer. "And you're mine."
He kisses me softly again and all my worries began to slowly melt away. And the warm fuzzy feeling takes over.
"Did you think about what we spoke about?"
I knew exactly what he was talking about. Telling my brother that we're together.
"A little."
He kisses me softly again, "You don't need me but I want you to want me the way I want you Calliope, not just in private, I want you all the time."
He had no idea that I did want him in public and private, I wanted him in every way possible, I wanted him whenever I woke up and I wanted him when I went to bed, I wanted him all the time.
He wasn't my sometimes, he was my every single day.
"We're perfect for each other."
"You sound obsessed." I joke with a smile but his response was not even close to a joke, "You think im anything less than obsessed with you?" He asked me softly, leaning closer, his lips trailing a path up my neck.
"I memorized every sound you make, every moan, every sigh." He say's it only loud enough for me to hear even if we're alone. "I text because of you, also, I really fucking hate texting."
I bite my lip to keep a smile from splitting my face.
"I know where every scar you have is and how many, you have nine, one behind your ear, one below your left boob, lower back, hip bone, two on your right knee, another one on your left, and two on your right elbow."
I was unable to speak, because some of those I had no idea myself.
"You love the smell of strawberries more than the taste."
True.
"You feel guilty when people give you things."
Also true.
"You smile all the time because you spent so long being sad when you were younger."
My throat closed. So damn true.
"Baby i've always been obsessed with you, i'll always want to be better for you and i'll do anything for you." I was about to speak, a pregnant pause passing by us till-
"I really fucking love you Calliope."
Oh shit.
He said it.
It felt like the whole world had momentarily stopped even if it was just a few words. But to me, those words were a magic.
Something that ran so deep.
Love.
"W-what?"
He lifts my chin back and angles my head to the side. "Im telling you that I love you, and that i'll always love you." He murmurs before pressing his lips to mine all over again.
But my mind could hardly catch up with what he'd just said.
I'd never been told I love you before and actually felt it.
This? It felt real, like he really meant it, nothing like when Michael had said it to me in the bakery.
With Rhys it felt like he meant it more than anything, like it was simply impossible to be a lie.
I really fucking love you Calliope.
Fuck.
It sounded so damn good when he said it that I could hardly think straight. My thoughts were a puzzle and I didn't care to fix it right now, so I didn't.
I help him as he slides my panties down my legs and then I tug his boxers lower before he picks me up at my hips and I ease myself down onto him and inside me.
Our lips part together at the feeling of him being inside me again, filling every inch of me and I forget everything else exists except him as we kiss.
And it feel likes love. It feels better than love. Is that even possible? Whats better than love?
Rhys is.
My nails scratch down his chest and I moan into his mouth as he guides me, but after all the sex throughout the night till the early hours of the morning when we could hear birds chips.
All I could think about is that Rhys just said he fucking loves me, and I hadn't said it back.